The aims of C8 include:
• providing design students in Australia and China with the opportunity to work collaboratively on a graphic design problem thereby emulating new trends toward global team-based networks within industry.
• stimulating new ways for designers to work collaboratively across cultural boundaries.
• the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable graphic design for ceramics, textiles, product and environment design.
• be used as a case study for research examining the impact of cultural background on the effectiveness of online learning. This will be acheived by determining cultural preferences and tendencies regarding the use of media in the project.
• help identify which media are more effective in improving student cognition of course materials across cultures.
• propose key considerations for design of online course content in regard to media for cross cultural delivery.
• assist in the instigation of an Australia China Research Group to focus on further research into collaboration and online learning in the area of design education.
• identifying the potential and opportunities for collaboration between design education and industry.
Shifts in trends within the creative industries are seeing designers increasingly adopt collaborative and cross-disciplinary modes of practice using digital networks. The emergence of global workflows suggests there are significant incentives for developing patterns of design practice appropriate for a world, in which China is increasingly integral to design and production processes.
This raises questions such as:
Can eastern and western design educators, students and designers develop mutually beneficial understandings about cross cultural design practice by interacting online?
Are we able to design together effectively without ever meeting face to face?
Design students from Australia and China will join forces for eight weeks, with project convenors, teachers and special guests worldwide, to work collaboratively within a fully online learning environment. Participants will form valuable connections with colleagues in Australia and China, receiving regular feedback and support from peers, teachers and established professionals, using the Internet as their sole communication tool.
C8 will consist of online lectures, discussions and forums for design students to discuss their ideas and produce design concepts and viable design solutions. The students will be placed in teams and their object will be to find new ways of working together online respecting each other’s cultural background and meeting the challenges of working in different geographic locations to create solutions to a design brief.
To be a part of this exciting project, students and educators should register their interest by clicking on the Apply tab above.
Applications for design students close mid-April 2008.
